Day: January 1, 2015

Just as Jesus was presented in the Temple as an infant, so you have been presented to the Temple of Christ’s risen body. Because you live in Christ and he lives in you, you are a child of God. John is wondrously in touch with this fact as he cries out the first verse of the reading, “We are children of God!”

Throughout this letter, themes of darkness and light, of sin and abiding in Christ, are set in stark contrast. For John there are no “gray” areas. There is either a life of sin or a life of grace going on inside of you and me. Yes, there may be occasional acts of sin, but the torque, the momentum, the full surrender of life is to be totally within God. If you are there, then a life of habitual sin is not possible. Experience what it is like to be a child—a very own child of God.

Thursdays are dedicated to the New Testament, except the Gospels. During the seasons of Advent to Epiphany this year, we read the three letters of John.